Ha, this. I work for a video company and we get semi-regular inquiries by law firms to "enhance" videos. We can do some things to help, but make something blurry magically clear? Not going to happen...sorry.

There are hot goth chicks in the lab, but mine had serious daddy issues. She also said that while the tech exists, one lab doesn't have access to all of it. The rest of the world will send their evidence to the regional office to get the pertinent tests done, if needed. Those things cost money, so if the detectives can get a confession, the tests aren't done. Also, those detectives telling you that they have you're DNA from the crime scene? They are lying to you. That particular ex-gf never watched any of those shows, mostly because they pissed her off. Angry goth sex is fun, but I think she figured out what I was doing rather quickly.

On the upside I suppose it means that jurors are considering evidence more closely and not just taking the hearsay of witnesses or police involved. I'd still rather a guilty man walk because the jury thought more tests should have been done than an innocent man jailed because they took unreliable witnesses at their word.

Aarontology:Haven't lawyers and judges been saying this for a while now?

People on juries keep asking for types of evidence not relevant to the case (DNA testing) for example.

Yes. I remember hearing about this back as an undergrad almost 8 years ago. My professor also mentioned how fingerprints are becoming questionable because no one has really tested out the theory that they are unique to you. In other words, how do we know that no two people have the same fingerprints?

but but.... television is real! (Hey, we as a society had the chance to address this desire to be stupid plenty of times and decided to let people be stupid... creationism, global warming, environmental damage from drilling and fracking... we choose to be ignorant and to face facts with dogma and lunacy. We got what we deserved! Now, get off my lawn so I can watch my favorite reality show, Criminal Minds!)

In my state, the state-run crime lab has been called out for manufacturing any evidence the prosecution wants. Similar allegations have been made for the federal crime lab. As someone who, like clockwork, gets called for district or superior court jury duty every two years I can tell you this - if a prosecutor uses any evidence from these corrupt organizations, I will not only toss it out, but I will zero-out the credibility of the state at that point. The state will need to have some smoking-gun, impossible to manufacture evidence that the defense just can't explain in any way for me to convict. No independent evidence? No conviction. If you want to argue that's not fair to genuine victims of a crime, then you a right. But when the state has no credibility, you cannot convict. And the saddest part? I served a few months ago and not a single case went before the jury - all were plea-bargained. The superior court judge came around and congratulated us all on closing out 19 separate cases (including a second degree murder.) Not a single one of us was called in for a trial.

Zoom in on the grainy security on one pixel of a personEnhance the grainy security picture to the point of seeing his poresSpin around so you can see his other side that was hidden form the cameraPan down to his pocketLook inside his pocketTake the key inside that pocket and virtually try it on every lock in the city.

Based on what I've read before, all of the tech they use on the show does technically exist, but in reality the stuff is unimaginably expensive, and a real police department wouldn't have even half of it.

Although I do question the DNA results back in under 5 hours thing on the show.

CSI was awesome when it first started. As far as I could tell they used normal real tech most departments would have, and had separate people doing all the various stuff like in a real crime lab. But then they slowly loaded down the show with super tech, and had the CSI's themselves doing damn near every lab function like a super scientist.

I'm waiting to see how long it is before they have the CSI's take over the medical examiners role as well.

basemetal:Mentat: Then stop picking idiot jurors instead of chasing away anyone with a brain who might actually try to think about the evidence they're seeing.

Ummmm, they don't want free thinkers.

CSB:

I once got bumped off a Jury because I was employed as tech support supervisor at the time, the guy on trial was accused of computer crimes, (the exact charges weren't told to the jury pool) the defense said my expertise would be biased in favor of the prosecution.

strangeluck:Based on what I've read before, all of the tech they use on the show does technically exist, but in reality the stuff is unimaginably expensive, and a real police department wouldn't have even half of it.

Although I do question the DNA results back in under 5 hours thing on the show.

CSI was awesome when it first started. As far as I could tell they used normal real tech most departments would have, and had separate people doing all the various stuff like in a real crime lab. But then they slowly loaded down the show with super tech, and had the CSI's themselves doing damn near every lab function like a super scientist.

I'm waiting to see how long it is before they have the CSI's take over the medical examiners role as well.

Officer Michaels: You know, this job though isn't how shows like CSI make it out to be, when I first joined the force, I was under the impression that everything was covered in a fine layer of semen. And that the police had at their disposal a semen database with every bad guy's semen on it. Not true!Officer Slater: YupOfficer Michaels: If only there was semen on everything, it would make our jobs easier...Officer Slater: Hell, yeah!Officer Michaels: I often go to sleep and dream of waking up in a world where everything is covered in semen.Officer Slater: I mean, who doesn't? It's like your wish that you could walk out of a room and just know where the semen was. You just know like Sherlock Holmes, if he was in his day, Sherlock Holomes, in his day... And this is a proven historical fact. Sherlock Holmes, when he was alive, knew where semen was.Officer Michaels: Could smell it out like a rat.Officer Slater: Smell it out. ANythingOfficer Michaels: Like the crime scene today, if the man had ejaculated and then punched you in the face, we'd have a real good shot at catching him...Officer Slater: No way,Officer Michaels: Just punched you in the face. No semen.Officer Slater: Yeah, no semen. And that's the only way you can find DNA by the way, if it's in the jizz.Officer Michaels: Semen. It's the best DNA, is in the jizz.Officer Slater: I'm telling you right now, sometimes I just want to make you know, live in a world of semen. That's funny you say that because I feel the same same way...Officer Michaels: It's trueOfficer Slater: I would make semen snowballs...Officer Michaels: It would just make our lives easier if everything was covered in semen.Officer Slater: Yeah, no crime.Officer Michaels: Just semen. fark, that'd be nice.Officer Slater: I think we've exhausted this point. Sherlock Holmes, in his day, would look at you and say: "Five nights ago, Veronica Shear, USA Up All Night."Officer Michaels: Four ounces.Officer Slater: I know that, four ounces into your hand.Officer Michaels: One time we found semen, one time.Fogell: I thought you said you never found semen.Officer Slater: One time we found semen, one time we found semen, we've got really excited, took it back to the lab, turned out it was Michaels' semen.